Kamifurano to Biei... and streptococcus

Riding to Biei was nice: the route was mostly flat and we were flanked by farmland and mountains as we headed up the valley.  The headwind of two days ago had disappeared too. It was only about 15kms to biei, but after arriving and having lunch we made the decision to take Bella to hospital.  She had been sick with what seemed to be a flu for a few days and had been running a slight temperature, but had deteriorated rapidly during the day to a fever over 39°, shivers, and listless/irritable. Very worrying so we rode over to the hospital where I ended up being directed in a taxi to a paediatrics clinic 25 minutes drive north in Asahikawa where a doctor saw her and i furiously worked the phrase book to describe her symptoms and figure out the prognosis.  Turns out she has streptococcus, so antibiotics for both her and Finn have been prescribed. 
I went back to Biei and hiked halfway across town in the rain with Bella on my shoulders wearing a poncho I made out of a plastic bag from the hospital - it was nice to see Bella smile, despite her illness, at the ridiculousness of her "raincoat".  I met up with Bron at a park before we found a quiet spot down by the river to pitch our tent and get the kids some rest.  It was hot and stuffy and generally unpleasant, but it was sufficient given the circumstances.  We are grateful we were able to see a doctor so quickly and the kids don't have anything worse.

A rest day at Kamifurano and our first onsen

So today we walked into town and caught the bus up to an onsen in the hills at 9:00.  It was an half an hour trip with great views of the mountains on the way up and from the top. The onsen was lovely - super relaxing after the previous days cycling and the kids were well behaved too which helped.  Hanging out in the nude was liberating, and the open air baths and cold plunge pool were particular highlights.  We'll be going to as many of these as we can in future!  The bus wasn't due until two so we went for a bit of an explore in the surrounding hills, buying a kitch bear bell for the trip. 
We went back down to the campsite on the bus and put on a load of washing (best 200yen we have spent so far!), putting the chariot into pram mode and heading off to the train station for a ride.  We had to drag the chariot up the crossing over the tracks and missed the train to Furano, so we ended up catching the train to the city of Asahikawa instead.  It was a special heritage train with open air carriages with seats facing outwards, and it turned out really well.  The view was good and we got a good sense of the route we would need to travel on our bikes.  Asahikawa was nice, the station was right in the middle of town next to a pedestrian shopping street.  We went for a walk and had a nice but expensive dinner at a restaurant after having to take the wheels of the chariot to get it through the door.  Major annoyance, but we were glad of it on the way back to the station when the kids were falling asleep and struggling to walk.
We dodged a bullet when we got to the station and the ATM didn't want to play ball with our card (thanks MasterCard...), and it was only through some deep searching of pockets that we scrounged up enough coinage for the tickets back.  The train left around nine at night and was filled with school kids and workers heading home, and Finn and Bella got lots of attention on the ride back to Kamifurano which was nice but perhaps a bit overwhelming for them at that hour.
It was very late by the time we arrived at the train station, and we were surprised to see the station master (whom we had chatted/sign languaged with before we left) waiting for us with a melon.  He gave it to us then headed home - such kindness warms our hearts.

Into the Furano Valley

We were up early as usual and headed out confident the ride shouldn't be too long.  Our legs were stiff from the day before and the climb from the lakeside up into the mountains was tough until we warmed up and found our pace.  We climbed for most of the morning before hitting a tunnel which we assumed was a three km megalith we had seen on the map that marked the highest point for the day and the start of the descent into the valley proper.  After turning on our lights and psyching ourselves up for the sound of oncoming vehicles, we raced in only to find that the tunnel ended a hundred metres away after a curve.  So five more  sapping kms followed up hill before we finally hit the big one.  Fortune had it that it was a mostly deserted mountain pass with a slight downhill grade and relatively few cars. 
The run down from the mountains was excellent, we covered ten ks in as many minutes and were just finishing remarking on how we had second winds and could ride all day when we hit the flat and a foul head wind that plagued us all the way into the Furano valley.
Despite this, we loved the views of the mountains all around us, some of which still had snow on their peaks.  Seeing the ski runs carving their way through the hills in the distance was also interesting.  We stopped for a bite to eat in Furano town itself, then headed north up the valley to Kamifurano to our campsite for the night.  The site was awesome - we had our first showers in almost a week and the kids had a great time running around on the lawn.